“Nadal began to keep eye on him,” Carlos Moya talks about Novak Djokovic’s rise to the top during Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal era
Carlos Moya recalled the time when Rafael Nadal started to pay some attention to a Slam-less Novak Djokovic.
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Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya (Images via Britannica, X, The Tennis Gazette)
Rafael Nadal retired last month and Carlos Moya, who coached Nadal from 2016 until his retirement talked about the rise of Novak Djokovic in the era of the Big 2, that is Nadal and 20-time major champion Roger Federer. Moya recalled Djokovic’s victory over Nadal on clay and how slowly the Serb, along with Federer and Nadal ruled tennis for more than a decade.
Between 2003 and 2007, Federer and Nadal were winning majors one after the other. Djokovic, who turned pro two years after Nadal (2001), had to wait for five years to win his first major. He finally lifted it in the 2008 Australian Open and as they say, the rest is history, for he has now surpassed Federer and Nadal with 24 majors.
Each match (of Federer and Nadal) was a global television event. Television and newspaper attention soared, as did ticket sales: everyone wanted to witness their greatness. But since 2005, Nadal also began to keep an eye on Novak Djokovic, a Serbian a year younger who won his first Slam tournament in 2008. The ‘Big 2’ with Nadal and Federer was about to become the ‘Big 3’.
Carlos Moya said during an interview with the ATP
Djokovic edged Nadal in their head-to-head record 31-29 and against the Swiss maestro, the 37-year-old has won 27 matches out of the 50 they played.
Carlos Moya recalls training with an eight-year-old Rafael Nadal
Just like Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya was also born in Mallorca. When Nadal was eight and Moya was 18, they used to train together. Moya, who retired in 2010, credited Nadal for his rise to the top of the rankings table, which he achieved in 1999.
As I am also Mallorcan, I saw Rafa play for the first time when he was eight years old. He was already special then, he hit every ball. l hard, as if his life depended on it. After that, we trained together three times a week. He was a teenager but his intensity in training motivated me in my ascent to the position of world number 1.
Carlos Moya told the ATP
Under Moya, Nadal won eight of his 22 Grand Slam titles, including five French Opens. Nadal’s last match was at the Davis Cup where he lost the first match of Spain versus the Netherlands to Botic van de Zandschulp.
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